New government strategy will make accessing porn that bit harder

Age verification will be a standard on all adult sites so kids can't reach them

The government is planning a new initiative to ensure all online outlets containing pornographic or adult material have suitable age verification measures to stop minors from accessing them. The initiative will also see the government police these new changes, with penalties for those that fail to comply.

Some sites do require age verification before showing off the adult content within, but a great deal don't have any safety measures whatsoever so an iniative of this kind does make sense when it comes to keeping kids from accessing potentially harmful material. It's all very much early days for the iniative, but with talks of a new 'framework' that will help police these new measures, it seems the government has designs on seeing this part of its manifesto through.

"The internet is a tremendous resource for learning and creativity but it is important to make sure that children are able to make the most of all it has to offer in a safe way," says Internet Safety and Security minister Baroness Shields. "Keeping children safe online is one of government's greatest priorities."

In order to better understand how to approach the subject of age verification, the government will be holding a series of meetings and interviews up until 12 April where it will consult everyone from internet providers and search engine giants to academics to representatives from social media platforms. Obviously there's no clear date on when such measures will be placed into effect, but expect to hear more by the time the year is out.